Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/262

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��times. Instances are related of the father teaching spelling and geography wliilo at work out in the clearing with his boys. He could drill them on the geography of other countries while they sat nooning, and eatiug their coru- l)r('ad and butter, and l)oiled turnips, under the trees and beside the brook. Tn the evenings they could study the multiplication table and the rules, and lia\'e good times spelling aloud. Once a week the young men in some localities met to compare writing and see how much or how little they had improved. Paper was -very scarce, and narrow strips only were used. It was no disadvantage to the eager boys of those days to browse among the few old books that had been their father's and their grandfathers. One boy, after he had mastered the alphabet, which was pasted on a smooth, board paddle. set traps and caught rabbits, and sold the skins for one cent apiece, and bought a new spelling- book with a nice wooden back.

Any kind of a book was a school-book in pioneer times. The large reading class was the History of the United States, the lesser ones read in the Life of Capt. Riley. English Reader, Huck's Theological Dictionary, Book of Martyrs, Encyclopedia, Introduction, etc. Teacher's wages in the winter wei-e |8 or $10 a month and boarding round — the pay raised by sul)- scription and left at any of the mills within a dozen miles. More than usual was the prepara- tion made for the master's week — the time when the family expected the teacher to board with them a week. If they all slept in the same room, the teacher and his host, or one of the big boys. '• sat close to the fire and patted in the ashes,"' until the women retired, then the embers were buried, the room in darkness, and he could retire. In the morning he lay liiding his time, with one eye open. The pounding or grinding of the coffee was the signal bell that intimated it was time to '^ face the music." When the women went out to get the sausage in the lean-to. or to cut the meat, the delay was

��favorably lengthened, and he availed himself of the opportunity.

Then, if he pulled down his A'est, cracked his knuckles, milked his beard, or did anything else that betokened his emliarrassraent. his host un- derstood, and. giving his head a side-wise jerk, said. " down to the brook " — then down to the brook, where there was plenty of water, went the master, and washed openly, and under the canopy of heaven, where there was no stint of accommodations, and where the oxygen was fre^h and free. Nowadays, people dignifv the calling, and don the teacher, professor; but then, wherever he went, a stranger and unknown, the parents of his pupils invariably, and away ahead of Young America, jovially called him • Jimmy," or '-Johnny." or " Greorgie." or • Billy. " He was fortunate if he escaped a nickname. They liked him. They wanted to prove it hy making him '■ one among 'em," and very often he was called '■ Nosey." or •' Boots. ' or ■ Parson," or •' Blinkey. " It was not uncommon for the teacher to be obliged to sleep with a couple of little scratching boys — all packed into one bed, like sardines in a box. A treat was expected on or about Christmas. Sixty years ago the treat was the bona-fide one of good whisky. Sometimes the master and the boys held their pow-wow in the schoolhouse, but generally, per- haps on account of the girls, they adjourned to a fence, where they sat like a row of rooks on the top rails, and passed the grog from one to another, with bits of jokes and repartee follow- ing the l)ottle in quick succession. An instance is recalled in which the teacher, a confirmed smoker, lighted his pipe, and passed it round among the boys and girls, inviting all to partake of the treat. Candies and raisins formed the staple of the more modern treat. If the teacher ignored the custom, or was too stingy to conform to it. he was •• barred out," — the windows were fastened secui-ely, the benches piled high against the door, and his entrance was impossible, unless some

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